The Steel Guitar Forum

Well Drew, you're on to us..

But it's too late.



EJL

Joel Paterson wrote: I guess the only hard and fast "rule" I can think of is don't add a major 3rd to a minor chord.

I think maybe it's who breaks the rules.
When I heard Herbie Hancock play a m3 over a major, I was hooked.

Yup - there are no "hard and fast" rules.

But - that doesn't mean that there aren't any rules at all about what to play in a particular context. But those are dictated by personal taste, which is what this must, in the end, be about.

Musicians and groups of musicians can and should decide what their "rules of the road" are, so they can work together effectively. If that's "there are no rules - this is free jazz.", fine. Most problems I've had in band harmony were from working with people who couldn't get consensus on what the rules of the road should be.

Let me say again - if you want to play "Today I Started Loving You Again" with a 7#9 on the I, no problem. But not with me, please. That definitely violates the minor 3rd over a major 3rd rule that I expect to be respected over a very pretty, simple country song with a strong major 3rd in the melody.

We should not expect to get unanimous agreement about this kind of thing. Diversity of ideas is OK, and not something to be afraid to talk about. All IMO, of course.

True, context is everything.
It was 'Basin Street', with Miles. It was supposed to be gritty, not pretty, but I thought it was just beautiful.
But I love ambivalence with respect to major/minor, and that is not a consideration in country and most popular music. We may be 'dancing about architecture,' but without diversity there would be little to discuss.

And I think the sus 4 is one of the key elements in pedal steel. How could I do without it?

I hate the G Major triad in JI....Just Kidding

Really seems like it comes down to band dynamics, who should be more prominent on what part. If its a big steel part tell the guitarist to simplify the part letting us do the elaborate chording, and when the guitar is parting we back off, Unless both players calm down you end up with a chromatic mess

If there's a question about whether a chord fits or not, we stop rehearsal and play the the measure in question. For example, if a guitarist is strumming a C chord and I want to add a maj7 to it, we have to voice it so that he's not playing a C in the same octave where I'm playing a B note. One of us has to change.

We iron these things out in rehearsal.

Drew Howard wrote:Duane,

Sorry! Here...have a major 7th chord.


Drew

Ahh... Now your talkin'! Thanks Drew.

Guys, this reminds me... I had a gig recently where the chart called for a maj7 chord, and an easy substitution was a IIIm. Another chart called for the m7b5 (this was not traditional country here) and I could easily do a 6th chord (without the 5th) - those are all over the place.

Substitution chords are the key to this thing. Even though one can find the full chord a m7b5 (for example) with a C-pedal and a the usual LKV, since the steel is usually playing in a band, there's almost always something else that will cover the other parts of the chord, making our job easy. Heck, might even be better so as not to muddy it up.

Remember also that a lot of what the E9 is all about are double stops anyway... Sure, sometimes we want three tones, and so for every weirded-out 4-note chord that's seemingly impossible to find or grip, there's no doubt an easy substitution that will do the job every bit as good.

I got more laughs out of this thread than any other. When I have a really bad guitar player, I play the same bad chords on the steel to see if he hears the difference in me playing them, or him....If he doesnt then IM FITTIN RIGHT IN! If he does I give him the WTF? look....Hey Im just trying to blend......Wheres my shift drink?...What time do we get off? Did we get paid yet?...

I had a pair of yellow cords when I first met my wife. She would no doubt want thos banned. The way she tells it is, "I married him anyway".